Gnomes in Spaaaaaaace

Over at Think Geek, you can order Star Trek themed gnomes!

ThinkGeek is an online store that specializes in nerdy, sciency, fandom, geeky apparel, accessories and toys marketed not just at children, but at the growing adult nerd market.

They just released their second set of Next Generation gnomes. You can find them here. Obviously, below I posted pictures of the best Star Trek themed merchandise of all time!

Best Tweet Ever!

From writer Andrew Chamings's twitter machine... he's actually pretty clever. Follow, if you do that sort of thing.

Gnomes and Charity

Apparently, gnomes and charity work go together. I've posted stories of gnomes being used for raising money and awareness before, and this post is sort of similar.

In Tucson, Arizona, there is a music and bicycle shop call Metro Gnome Music & Cycle. First of all, let's take a paragraph to appreciate the gnovel combination of bicycling and music lessons while using gnomes as your mascot. Since 2000, this shop has provided the Tucson area with quality preowned and refurbished musical instruments, instrument rentals, music lessons, vinyl and digital music sales, and bicycles, repairs, and equipment and accessories.

But, being a community business is not enough. They have also been promoting an annual festival to benefit the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, and local school music programs. The party is part music festival, part local vendor showcase. The gnome-themed music/bike shop hosts the event and encourages gnome cosplay with the goal of breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as gnomes. Their event this year took place on October 22, 2017.

Yes, that is a real thing. The current record is held by BBC Hereford & Worcester with 478 people dressed as gnomes in Worcester, UK on November 18, 2011. Apparently that record held. Hopefully Metro Gnomes from Tucson will have better luck and more participation next year.

The Feel Good Story of the Day: Gnome Connectivity

I found an article (?), anecdote (?), editorial (?), essay (?) on The Huffington Post the other day. It is about, in summary, a kid and his collection. I definitely understand, having several collections of stuff myself (bottlecaps, stamps, pint glasses, music). The subject of the article (?) open letter (?) memoir (?) essay (?) was this boy's super awesome obsession with gnomes (probably the best obsession to have, obviously).

But it could have been about any collectable thing, because the point wasn't about how cool gnome collecting is, and how widespread it can be, but rather that seemingly innocuous interests can bring otherwise alienated people together.

I suppose there is a downside to this phenomenon: the fact that people only seem to gravitate to groups that share the same interests, another form of tribalism that continues to hinder the development of a free, diverse, peaceful global society. But, I prefer to be an optimist and see this from the author's perspective, that old-school hobbies, however strange they are, can open up new relationships and start conversations that may never have happened otherwise.

So... here's to the gnome home builders, and the train enthusiasts, and the stamp collectors, the card players, the knitters, sneakerheads, and craft beer hipsters and anyone else that I left out. Because these people have opportunities to connect with a diverse group of others in real time, and I find that to be important.





edit: Unfortunately this article is no longer on the Huffington Post website. I had linked to it previously.

World of Breast Cancer Awareness?

World of Warcraft is a massive multiplayer online shared universe, basically an internet based Dungeons and Dragons-esque video game. People create fantasy-based characters and play in this giant universe with tons of other player created characters.

It is a giant collective of like minded fantasy gamers. The idea that gamers are a pretty homogenous group of fat, pimply faced white teenagers is a huge fallacy. Gamers are pretty diverse, and WOW (World of Warcraft) enthusiasts are no exception. So, it would make sense that this diverse group would have other interests aside from slaying dragons and warring with orcs (or whatever else you do in WOW, I've never played).

Apparently, every year for the past 8, a bunch of WOW gamers create gnome characters all with pink hair, and make them run through the game's universe to promote breast cancer awareness.

Say what you will about the over abundance of breast cancer awareness, and pink everything every October, and how donations may or may not actually make it to research, but this is super cool, and I'm amazed I only heard about it the other day.

The article linked below on Kotaku gives more information.

click for article

Habitat for Gnomanity

This story was in the North Bay Nugget, the North Bay, Ontario Daily newspaper. Gnomes Find a Home tells the tale of a true Canadian hero. Click the banner for the story.

This local carpenter found his true calling as a gnome home builder after being challenged by his neighbors to turn their crab apple stump into the greatest lawn ornament of all time! I wish this man luck in all future gnome home building endeavors.

Press Secretaries love to Garden

On May 10th, 2017, the US Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, took questions about the firing of FBI director James Comey. The unorthodox press conference happened outdoors, and began when the press secretary "emerged" from nearby bushes. This story can be found on CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and numerous other news outlets. The story, of course, influenced memes, monologues and sketches about Sean Spicer hiding in the bushes, afraid of the press.

This includes the genius "Garden Spicer" by Lisa Kadonaga from BC, Canada.

a little DIY garden deco

Not to be outdone, one of my favorite online cartoonists, Lar DeSouza from Blind Ferret Media posted his own cut-out shenanigans. I like his better, for obvious reasons.

Of Gnomes and Baseball...

click me

According to Lawnstarter, a lawncare startup that appears to operate as the Uber of lawncare services, Baltimore is the number 1 ranked city for Gnome popularity. Click the logo above for a link to their article.

Apparently, the gnome loving trend in Baltimore started when the Orioles gave away Buck Showalter garden gnomes. They followed it up with a 2nd gnome giveaway, this time bearing the likeness of Manny Machado.

Since then, the two baseball gnomes go up on ebay for around $50.